


Why Do Stars Fall Down From The Sky

by nackledamia



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 19:29:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14700690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nackledamia/pseuds/nackledamia
Summary: James' family runs a potion store. One day, Thomas comes in to buy a potion.





	Why Do Stars Fall Down From The Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the mess of words I wrote because I started playing the new harry potter game and was inspired to write an unrelated (to harry potter) jeffmads magic au.

James was sure Thomas Jefferson hated him.

Sure, James was the new guy in Thomas’ hometown, having moved here while Thomas was in France. Thomas was back in Monticello and he seemed adamant to prevent James from destroying his memories of his hometown.

Imagine someone returning home from college wanting to see their room preserved exactly how they left it, only to discover that their parents had placed a new doll in their dollhouse. James was the new, unwanted doll in Thomas’ memory of Monticello.

Everytime James came by Thomas’ table to talk to one of his friends, Thomas would cease talking and quietly pick at his nails, refusing to look up at James until he went away. Once James left, he would hear Thomas mutter something in a low voice and the table would start to snigger after James.

James didn’t understand why Thomas felt the need to make his life miserable.

Thomas was very skilled in the art of purposely coming up to whoever was talking to James just to make James invisible while Thomas and his friend talked about whatever trivia nonsense Thomas was using to ignore James’ existence.

James didn’t know what he did to Thomas to deserve this sort of silent bullying.

James found his only source of comfort to be that the other citizens of Monticello weren’t as mean as Thomas was. None of them actively took part in this ‘silent bullying’ when Thomas wasn’t around. When Thomas wasn’t purposely going out of his way to make James’ life a living hell, James felt rather included in the activities of others around him.

In fact, all of the other citizens often swung by his family’s potion store for a witchery favour or two. James normally enjoyed being stationed at the On-The-Spotion booth but as the silent bullying grew more frequent and intense, James found it harder to look at his ‘friends’ in the eye while he brewed their stupid potions for them.

What had Thomas said to them about him that had resulted in them being unable to keep a straight face while conversing with him? What stupid rumour had Thomas spread around the school behind his back? Why did his ‘friends’ support these rumours instead of having his back?

Was he really the unwanted doll in the dollhouse?

James was brooding over his social problems and the loss of his new handkerchief when the bell above the entrance door dinged and Thomas walked in.

He hadn’t seen James yet. James shrunk behind the cauldron and wished that he really was invisible. In fact, he should cast an invisibility spell before Thomas saw him.

“Hi, good afternoon,” Thomas said to James’ mother at the counter, pretentiously well-mannered, “I’m looking for, ah, a love potion.”

Of course. Of course Thomas would be here looking for a dumb love potion to steal the heart of someone who didn’t love him back.

“Of course, dear. We have generic love potions on some of the shelves in the back, but if you would like to personalise the potion for your crush, you can speak to my son over there,” James’ mother explained kindly, gesturing across the store at James.

James pulled his oversized hoodie over his face in his attempt to hide.

Shrouded in darkness, James heard a beat of silence in the store before Thomas said “I think I’ll just win his heart over the old-fashioned way.”

God, was Thomas really so repulsed by him?

“No, no, go on!” James’ mother encouraged Thomas, always the friendly neighbourhood witch, “James will be delighted to help you.”

James pulled his hoodie down and stared at the way Thomas recoiled from him as James’ mother pushed him towards James. Thomas looked horrified, terrified to see James here.

“Welcome to On-The-Spotion where I make you a potion on-the-spot,” James muttered, glancing off to the side of the store.

“James!” his mother hissed, “be nice to the customer.”

His mother walked off and Thomas stood before the cauldron with his hands dug deep in the pockets of his own ridiculously purple hoodie.

Thomas was silent for a moment before he spoke up. “H-Hi,” he stammered, and James raised an eyebrow at him. Thomas turned as red as the fire beneath the cauldron.

“Really? Is being nice to me so difficult for you?” James questioned drily. “If you’re going to insult me, do it and get out of my store.”

“Right, this is your store,” Thomas repeated, twisting his body from side to side with his feet planted firmly on the ground. It could be a sign of nervousness, but James was leaning more towards disinterest. “I, uh, I guess I’ll get going.”

“Bye,” James muttered, crossing his arms in front of him as Thomas shuffled into a back aisle of the store in search of his generic love potion. “See you in school,” James sneered the greeting at himself when Thomas was out of earshot.

James returned to counting down the seconds to college while staring at nothing. He didn’t know how long Thomas spent hiding (or attempting to steal something to get James in trouble) in the aisle but he eventually emerged and walked up to the counter with his generic love potion.

“This won’t do,” James’ attention snapped back to the present when he heard his mother grumble. “I’m all for young love!” she declared, emerging from behind the counter to take Thomas by the shoulder. “Here, I’ll charge you the price of the generic love potion for a personalised one!”

James’ mother took the generic love potion off the counter and walked up to James, pouring the concoction into the cauldron. Thomas walked up behind her and began twisting on the spot again, chewing on his lip nervously (probably impatiently) as she added some flowers and various liquids into the cauldron.

“Mix it,” she told James before turning back to Thomas. “Now,” she began as James stirred the cauldron reluctantly, “I’m sure you know that a personalised love potion requires something that your crush used.”

“It could be a strand of their hair or thread off their clothes,” James added helpfully, having a mind to add an eyeball or something that would counter the love potion when his mother wasn’t looking.

“Yeah. Yeah, I have that,” Thomas mumbled, beginning to bounce on his heels, hands digging deeper into his pockets.

“Good! Just drop it into the cauldron,” James’ mother encouraged, pushing Thomas forward.

Thomas hesitated, then pulled his fist out of his pocket and uncurled his fingers over the cauldron.

James’ new handkerchief fell into the cauldron and a burst of flames consumed it.

Thomas stared down at his feet, as though hoping the ground would swallow him whole.

“What the- that’s my new handkerchief!” James stopped stirring the cauldron and glared at Thomas. “Who put you up to this?!”

“James, honey, don’t yell-” James’ mother tried to say.

“No, I bet you came up with it all on your own, didn’t you? It’s so funny to watch my life crumble before your eyes, isn’t it?” James raised his voice. “Did you steal my first handkerchief too?”

Thomas pulled his other fist out of his other pocket and dropped James’ first handkerchief into the cauldron.

“I hate you. I hate you!” James screamed at him, then flopped on the ground behind the cauldron and crossed his arms, huffing in anger.

Of course. Of course Thomas would be the one to steal his handkerchiefs and burn it in front of him.

“I’m sorry, this was a mistake,” James could hear Thomas say to his mother by the counter. His voice wavered, as though he was close to tears. “I shouldn’t have come. Aaron said I should get a love potion but I didn’t know this was the Madisons’ store and I didn’t know James would be here.”

Silence as James’ mother spoke softly in response to him.

“Yeah,” Thomas replied to whatever she asked him, “I’ve tried to talk to him in school but I don’t know how to act around James. I always end up talking to the person he’s talking to instead because I’m too nervous to talk to him.”

Silence again. James drew his knees up to his chest. Thomas was lying to get out of trouble with his mother. He was certain about that.

“Yeah,” Thomas sniffled, “Yeah, all my friends know about my dumb crush on him. Everytime he walks by my table and talks to one of my friends, I kind of, stop talking because I don’t want to say something stupid in front of him. When he leaves, everyone at the table will laugh at me.”

Wow, Thomas really was taking this stupid crush joke far.

“I just don’t want him to hate me but now he really hates me,” Thomas whimpered, then began to cry in the store.

James stood up from behind the cauldron.

“He’s lying,” James snapped. He had enough of Thomas Jefferson’s jokes.

“He’s not, James,” James’ mother said, a supportive hand on Thomas’ shoulder, turning to look at James. “I cast a truth spell on him.”

James’ jaw dropped.

“James,” Thomas turned to him in the middle of his tears, eloquent because of the truth spell, “I really really like you and I’m really bad at expressing myself but I promise that I tried so hard to talk to you but I’m a loser and I don’t know how so Aaron said I should get a love potion because maybe it would be easier for me if you started the conversation with me and I told Aaron it was a stupid idea but he insisted so I stole your handkerchiefs- I didn’t like doing so, I didn’t like to take your things without permission- and now you hate me and I’m so sorry I hate myself too I should just go back to France and hide there for the rest of my life.” Thomas finished his long spill of truth by covering his mouth with his hand and trembling as he began to sob his eyes out.

“I-” James faltered for words.

“Thomas, honey,” James’ mother eased him towards her and looked at him deep in his eyes. “You’re going to forget that you came to buy a love potion. You’re going to forget that you told James that you like him. You’re going to go home and realise that you lost the handkerchiefs you stole from James so you will buy new ones for him and give them to him as a present on monday.”

Thomas nodded and James’ mother pushed him towards the door. Thomas left without another word.

“So,” James’ mother turned to him, standing up straight, “I compelled him to forget embarrassing himself in front of you. What’s going to happen between you two is up to you now.”

 

James looked up as Thomas plopped a nicely folded package on his desk on monday. Thomas shunned at his gaze, intimidated and unsure, and turned to hurry to his own desk.

“How did you know I lost my handkerchiefs?” James spoke up and Thomas stopped. “Thanks, I really needed new ones.”

“Um,” Thomas muttered, eyes darting across the classroom in a silent plea for help. No one stepped in to pull him out of the conversation, forcing Thomas to engage in a response while everyone watched on. “Yeah, of course,” Thomas mumbled, never meeting James in his eyes.

“Let me buy you lunch,” James offered.

The class whooped loudly and Thomas hesitated, turning red. Some of their classmates clapped Thomas on the back, a physical nudge to agree.

“Yeah- Yeah, I guess,” Thomas managed to say and stumbled back to his seat across the classroom from James.

James kept his eyes on Thomas as the teacher began roll call. Thomas was staring at a spot on his empty desk, deep in his own thoughts. He was hunched over, hands in the pockets of his hoodie, seeming to contemplate if he should throw the hood on.

Thomas turned to sneak a peek at James and was startled to find James already looking at him. James offered him a smile and Thomas straightened in his seat, something clicking in his mind.

Thomas beamed; the sun of the sky, the melody of the song, the life of the party.

James chuckled and turned back to face the teacher. The adoration in Thomas’ eyes was something he had to get used to. Maybe one day he would return the sentiment.

After all, he was the most treasured doll of the dollhouse.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought?
> 
> [say hi to me on tumblr!](http://nackledamia.tumblr.com)


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